U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,124 to Haverfield et al. discloses a work assist vehicle comprising a personnel compartment and a load tray, both coupled to a vertically moveable mast. The load tray is pivotable. The vehicle does not include a set of forks.
Pending Patent Application, U.S. Ser. No. 10/421,090, entitled “WORK ASSIST ACCESSORY FOR PALLET TRUCKS AND PALLET TRUCKS INCLUDING WORK ASSIST FEATURES,” filed on Apr. 23, 2003, by Burger et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a pallet truck comprising a set of forks and a work tray. The tray is adjustably mounted to a generally upright extension. The tray is always maintained a spaced distance away from the forks so as not to contact the forks.
It is also known in the art to provide a tray for a pallet truck which is manually placed on and removed from a pair of pallet truck forks. The tray functions to provide a surface to move non-palletized products or simply to provide a surface on which to work. The tray is not permanently coupled to the truck and, hence, requires an operator to manually place the tray on the forks, which operation is time consuming and physically difficult, and further requires the operator to remove the tray from the forks when a load is to be placed directly on the forks.
Accordingly, there is a need for a work tray which is non-removably coupled to a pallet truck and which can be moved between a stowed position so as to allow a load to be placed directly on a set of forks and a workpiece-receiving position so as to allow workpieces, which would be difficult to support and balance directly on the forks, to be placed directly on the tray.